Covering breasts of heels



- March 28, 1933- J.YGOULDBOLIRN EI'AL' ,902,

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 5, 1930 March 1933- J. GOULDBOURN El AL 3 COVEiIING BREASTS OF HEELS Filed Jan.- 3, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet .2

March 28, 1933 J. GQULDBOURN ET 1,902,848

COVERING BREASTS OF HEELS Filed Jan. 5, 1930 s Sheets-Shet 3 60 i f/. 1L1: 5 -'f n Patented Mar; 28, 1933 -imrran STATES PATENT OFFICE- J'OSEPH GOU LDBOURN AND GEORGE HAZELTON', F LEICESTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORB TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ArcOR- PORA'I'ION OF'NIEW J covmmre namsrrs or name Application filed January 8, 1930, Serial No. 418,872, and in Great Britain January 17, 1989. I

This invention relates to methods of making shoes and is herein illustrated as applied to securing covers to the breasts of heels.

In the manufacture of shoes having wood he'els, a leather cover is usually provided for the breast of the heel which in the case of Louis heels is formed as a flap' cut from the sole of the shoe and secured adhesively to the breast of the heel after the otherwise covered heel has been attached to the shoe. This covering flap which forms a continuation of the sole has been secured in position by various adhesives and in accordance with various methods, none of which has been wholly satisfactory. If glue was used to attach the flap, it was customary to. clamp the flap in position against the breast of the heel and owing to the slow setting of the glue, it was necessary to leave the shoe in the clamp for considerable time, thereby involving a substantial capital outlay in large numbers of clamps, delaying the progress of the work and requiring a relatively considerable space in the factory. In other cases, some form of rubber cement has been utilized and the parts, after they have become tacky, have been merely stroked and wiped down into snug contact without utilizing any clamping mechanism. This method, while avoiding the use of clamping apparatus, does not give the same assurance of a reliable and durable adhesion and the considerable sleeking and wiping involved is apt, in some cases, to mar the surface of the breast flap.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of attaching breast covers by means of which a high quality of work may be performed at greater speed and at less expense.

It has been found that a high grade of work can be secured at a minimum of expense and the necessity for leaving the shoe in a clamp for a considerable length of time can be avoided if the adhesive utilized for attaching the cover to the breast of the heel is al lowed to dry, and later when it is desired to secure the breast cover to the heel, is revived by the application of a solvent so that it becomes tacky without being suflicient- 1y fluid to require a long drying period or I necessitating its retention in a clamping de vice for a long time. As illustratively described a coating of glue is applied preferably both to the attaching surface of the covering flap and to the breast surface of the heel at some convenient time, it may be before the parts are assembled in the shoe. When the time comes for attaching the breast cover to; the heel the coating of glue is revived by" the application of wet steam. The treatment thus described permits the time of clamping to be greatly reduced, say, for example, to two minutes. It is found further, especiall in those cases where the covering flap is o substantial thickness, that it is necessary to stretch the sides-of the flap or to mold the flap to the shape of the breast of the heelin order to avoid the tendency of the flap pressed into the hollows of the breast to spring away therefrom, if the clamping pressure is released before the adhesive is well set. This tendency is of suflicient importance in some instances to warrant the introduction of a. separate molding operation. A separate molding operation may be avoided, however, if, in accordance with a feature of the invention, the outer o1 grain,

surface of the covering flap is tempered slightly, whereby the covering flap may nevertheless be firmly secured in the hollows of the heel during the brief clamping otherwise required.

the wet steam such as is utilized in softening the adhesive, directly to" the face of the leather opposite to, that which is to be stuck down, so as to temper it.

For the sake of convenience and of cleanli ness in the handlin of the adhesive, the latter may be supplie in the form of a dried coating upon the opposite sides of a carrier. Then, in accordance with the invention considered in another aspect, the dried coating on the carrier may be revived b the app? riod r As illustrative y described, this novel step consists in applying as applied though the method is to be and has one or more uncoatcd margins by ginal portions of the breast flap are trimmed oil at the same time.

There will now be described an illustrative method of making shoes in accordance with the present invention, reference being the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows av shoe in which glue has been applied to the breast flap and to the breast of the heel and allowed to become dry;

Fig. 2shows the reviving of the glue, to render it tacky, by the application of wet steam; Fig. 3 shows an alternative method of supplying adhesive for the attachment of the breast flap, a carrier sheet being utilized on which the adhesive has been allowed to dry and which is softened by presentation to a jet of steam;

Fig. 4 shows such an adhesive carrierin position and the breast flap being tempered by the application of steam to its grain or outer surface;

Fig. 5 illustrates the clamping of the covering flap against the heel; and

Fig. 6 shows how the marginal portion of the flap may be trimmed, removing at the same time the unused "margin of the adhes've carrier, if one has been used.

Our novel method will be described herein to a shoe 10 in which a breast covering flap 12 has been split from the sole 14 and to which shoe there has been secured a wooden heel 16, the curved sides of which are covered with a thin material 18 which may be of leather, cloth, cellulo d or the like. Aldescribed as employing glue as an adhesive, it will be understood that this is merely for the sake of illustration and that the method is equally applicable to other adhesives (of which pyroxylin cement may be taken as one example) which may be allowed to dry to a non-tacky condition and then revived by the applcation' of a suitable solvent.

In carrying out our novel method, an operator takes a'shoe 10 from a rack of shoes awaiting treatment and uniformly but thinly coats the split face of the breast flap 12 (including that part of the latter which is to lie on the tread under the heel), and the breast 20 of the heel 16 itself with glue, by brushing it thereon or apply ng it in any other convenient manner. For this purpose the glue will be maintained in fluid condition in any of the usual forms of heated glue pots. He then lays the shoe aside with the flap 12 turned back to permit the glue to set. This will take place comparatively quickly because of the full exposure of the coated surfaces to the atmosphere and the shoe may be left in this condition for any length of time untll required for the next operation.

had to vhesive between the surfaces "the breast flap may "Fig. 4. In this way When the time comes for eifecting'the ap reast o plication of the breast flap to the the heel, the operator takes the shoe and holds it as shown in Fig. 2 steam 26 issuing from a. valve controlled nozzle 28, turning the shoe so that the steam is played upon the coated surface 22 of'the covering flap 12 and upon the coated breast surface 20 of the heel, until the said surfaces have been brought to atacky condit'on.

It has been observed that a dried coating of glue or the like can be brought quickly and reliably to a condition of uniform stickiness over its surface by causing such a jet of wet steam to impinge thereon, and that, as a result, the adhesive is readily brought to such a condit on that it will have the requisite tackiness to effect adequate bonding of the parts Without danger of the adhesive squeezing out atthe sides of the heel and soiling the side covering 18. This softening of the glue may be accomplished by playing the steam jet upon it for a few, say three or four, seconds; Having thus provided a film of adto be attached, be placed in position on the heel breast and clamped thereon, as later will be described.

Advantageously, too, the grain surface of the covering flap 12 is tempered by applying a jet of steam 30 from, for example, a nozzle 32 attached to a flexible-hose 34 as indicated 1n the grain surface of the flap is moistenedand rendered pliable so that it may be readily pressed into the valleys along the sides of the heel breast 20, it being understood that the steaming is so limited that the grain surface does not become obviously wet, the exact time employed depending upon various ness of the breast flap. This tempering operation willusually precede the laying of the breast flap and the operator will stroke the latter by hand so as to lay it upon the breast face free from undue folds or wrinkles.

Instead of applying glue directly to the breast flap and to the heel so as to provide a film of glue between the surfaces to be bonded, there may be interposed between these surfaces an adhesive carrier 40 which is somewhat similar in shape to-but slightly larger than the breast of the heel. This carrier may be of paper, for example, and provided upon its oppositefaces with a coating 42 of glue which has been allowed to become dry. When such adhesive carriers are employed they may be prepared in advance and piled up in a stack as shown i Fig; 3 ready for removal one at a time. To facilitate handling such carriers they preferably have uncoated margins 44 which may be grasped by the opera ;0rs hand 45in order to present the carrier to a jet of steam 26 issuing from a nozzle 28, to renderthe glue tacky. Usually this will be done just prior to the use of the adjacent to a jet of wet factors, such as the thick- I breast of the heel with the carrier sheet 40 interposed, and the operator will stroke the flap to lay it on the breast face at the same time freeing it of wrinkles.

He then will take the shoe with the breast flap stuck in position and will employ any suitable sort of a clamping mechanism to press the flap firmly into position against the breast of the heel. For the sake of illustration, this is shown as accomplished b means of an apparatus like that of Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,716,655-

20 granted June 11, 1929, upon the application of J. R. Nowack. This apparatus provides a flexible, inflated bag 50 supplied with air through a tube 52 which bag is mounted in position by means of clamps 54 upon a support 56. The shoe with the flap pressed manually into position is placed in the manner shown in Fig. 3 upon the inflated bag 50 and pressed firmly thereagainst by means of a clamping lever 58 supported upon upright rods 60 acting directly upon a rotecting angle-iron 62. The shoe may be eft in this position for the length of time necessary to insure a firm bonding of the heel breast covering flap. With the improvedmethod herein described, this time is greatly reducedbecause of the tacky condition in which the adhesive is, at the time that the breast flap is laid, and it has been found by experience that a twominute interval will allow the glue to set sufficiently to hold the flap adequately in place.

After this, the shoe may be released from the clamp illustrated in Fig. 5 and the side margins 64 of the covering flap 12 trimmed, for example, flush with the sides 36 of the heel as by means of the knife 66. If a car-' rier 40 has been used, this trimming operation will remove simultaneously the projecting portions of the adhesive carrier 40 including the uncoated margins 44 thereof. Such" an adhesive carrier will be of material sufiiciently thin so that it will be practically invisible in the completed shoe. After this the top lift (not shown) may be attached and any other finishing operations carried out.

While the method has been described as involving the use of a clamping mechanism,

such as is shown in Fig. 5 it will be found in certain cases that it may be usefully employed to secure the flap to the heel breast in shoes where the flap is merely rubbed and wiped into position on the breast and the clamping is eliminated.

Having thus described our invention, what we Elaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

. 1. That improvement in methods of makin show in which a covering. flap is proto the outer surface of the covering flap to temper it, and then laying the flap against the breast of the heel.

2. That improvement in the methods of making shoes which consists in splitting a flap from the sole of a shoe, coating the inner surface of said flap with glue, securing a heel to the shoe and coating its breast surface with glue, allowing said coatings to dry, applying steam to at least one of the coated surfaces to render it tacky, applying steam to the outer surface of the flap to temper it, pressing togethersaid flap and said heel, and resiliently clamping said flap to the heel to allow said adhesive to set.

3. That improvement in methods of mak ing shoes which consists in splitting a: flap from the sole of a shoe, securing a heel to the shoe over the split portion ofthe sole,

from which the flap is removed, coating the Y .and rendering tacky the coatin by the application of steam to the su ace thereof,

bonding said flap to the breast of the heel,

and clamping said flap to the heel.

4. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of a heel which consists in reviving by the application of steam a dried adhesive coating on a carrier, interposing' said'carrier between the flap and the heel, and pressing said flap and carrier against the breast of the heel.

5. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of'a heel which consists in holding a carrier for adhesive having an uncoatedmargin by grasping said margin and presenting the carrier. in the path of a jet of steam to revive a dried adhesive coating thereon, interposing said carrier between the flap and the heel and laying the flap against the breast of the heel.

6. The methodof attaching a cover to the breast of a heel which consists in reviving by the application of steam a dried adhesive coating on a carrier larger than the breast of the heel, interposing said carrier between the flap and the heel, laying the flap against the breast of the heel, and simultaneously trimming the side margins of the flap and the carrier.

7. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of a heel which consists in holding a carrier for adhesive having an uncoated margin and being larger than the breast of the heel by grasping its uncoated margin and presenting the carrier to a jet of steam to revive a coating of dried adhesive thereon to bring the adhesive to a tacky condition, I

interposing said carrier between the flap and the heel, laying the flap against the breast of the heel, and thereafter simultaneously trimming the side margins of the flap and the carrier.

8. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of a heel which consists in reviving by the application of steam a dried adhesive coating on a carrier, applying steam to the outer surface of the cover to tem r it, interposing said carrier between the ap and heel, and laying the flap against the breast of the heel.

9. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of a heel which consists in reviving by the applicationof steam a dried adhesive coating on a carrier larger than said heel breast, applying steam to the outer surface of the cover to temper it, placing the carrier between the flap and the heel, applying said flap to the heel, and thereafter trimming the side margins of the flap and the carrier.

10. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of a heel by means of a carrier provided with a dried, adhesive coating and adapted to be interposed between the flap and the heel, which consists in applying steam to the driedadhesive coating to revive it and render it tacky and to the outer surface of the cover to temper it, and laying the flap against the breast of the heel.

11. The method of attaching a cover to the breast of a heel by means of a carrier for adhesive having an uncoated margin which 7 consists in grasping said margin and presenting the carrier to a solvent to revive a dried adhesive coating on the carrier, interfiosing said carrier between the flap and the eel, and laying the flap against the breast of the heel.

12. The method of attaching a cover to the D breast of a heel by means of a carrier larger than the breast of the heel and having a dried adhesive coating which consists in reviving the adhesive coating on the carrier, interposing the carrier between the flap and the heel, laying the 'flap against the breast of the heel, and simultaneously trimming the side margins ofthe flap and thecarrier.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

JOSEPH GOULDBOURN. GEORGE HAZELTON. 

